[ceejayoz]

> Vegetables have no calories.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staple_food

"Typical examples include tubers and roots, grains, legumes, and seeds."

Yeah, don't go scarfing iceberg lettuce when stuck in the woods, but we've been finding and eating starchy root vegetables for probably millions of years.

[adrianN]

We've also spend a tens of thousands of years selectively breeding plants to produce more calories. You won't find such calorie rich wild plants. Foraging for plants is really hard.

[ceejayoz]

We started breeding them presumably because they offered clear nutritional benefits. That we made them better doesn't change this.

[mhotchen]

Not to say there isn't nutritional benefits to wild wheat and carrots and whatever (I've no idea to be honest), but I don't think the nutritional value was at the front of their mind when our ancestors began understanding agriculture. If it stopped them being hungry I think that's all that mattered, because it was the wilderness and that's basically all wild animals think about. I can definitely see it being a supplement to hunting initially, in order to reduce the number of hunts required, and only afterwards as we made improvements to our techniques and crops would the nutritional requirements from the crops become a focus point.

I don't know shit about this topic though, I'm just trying to put myself in their shoes (or feet as the case would be).